Donegal County Council votes not to use utilities database's for chasing the household levy defaulters
Seinn Fein councillor Jack Murray of Donegal County council who proposed the move and the council voted to ban their civil servants from using utility bills to track down people who haven’t paid the Household Charge.
Councillor’s in Donegal voted by 11 to three to prevent the use of the optional power given to staff under the legislation set up to collect the €100 fee.
Labour councillors supported the motion, which was brought by Seinn Fein councillor Jack Murray. The council also agreed to send their decision to other local authorities, asking each of them to follow suit.
FINE GAEL COUNCILLORS OPPOSED THE MOTION.
“The vast majority of people in Donegal have not paid the Household Charge. They have not done so because it is unjust,” said Mr Murray. “This. . . was about protecting their privacy.”
It is understood that the motion has no legal effect, as local politicians have no role in revenue collection.
Meanwhile, independent TD Thomas Pringle has launched a High Court action against the Government, claiming the fiscal compact treaty breaches the Irish Constitution and EU laws.
Mr Pringle said he had ‘no choice’ after the Taoiseach had failed to respond to issues he raised. The Donegal South-West TD believes the treaties “raise serious legal difficulties both at the level of EU treaty law and Irish constitutional law”.
Irish Charities say Social Welfare Bill will push one-parent families into poverty hole
Joan Burton argues that encouraging parents to enter the workforce is the best way of helping them to gain economically.
CHARITIES REPRESENTING the rights of women, children and single parents have criticised government legislation being presented to the Dáil this evening which proposes to change the conditions under which parents qualify for the One-Parent Family Allowance.
The Social Welfare and Pensions Bill, which forms one of the last parts of the legislation giving effect to last December’s Budget, would see a gradual change in the age a parent’s eldest child must be under if the parent is to qualify for the allowance.
Single parents are currently eligible to receive the allowance when their youngest child is under the age of 14. The legislation proposes that this be lowered to 7 on a phased basis up to 2015 for new applicants, with single parents then being forced onto jobseekers’ allowance.
Barnardos, the National Women’s Council of Ireland and OPEN, the One Parent Exchange Network, say the legislation will worsen the levels of poverty that already exist in one-parent homes.
OPEN director Frances Byrne said there was a “huge fear” among lone parents that the plans would “make it increasingly difficult for parents to meet the costs of raising a family alone”.
“The majority of lone parents are already in work, or want to work,” she said, “but the ongoing lack of supports such as reliable and affordable childcare and afterschool care present impossible challenges that the Government cannot address by 2015.”
Introducing the legislation in the Dáil this evening, social protection minister Joan Burton conceded that a large proportion of lone parents were “still experiencing poverty, and were at much higher risk of poverty than other working-age adults.
“We believe that supporting parents in participating in the labour market, once their children have reached an appropriate age, will improve their own economic stituations and their social well-being as well as those of their families,” the minister said.
Burton said she recognised that many lone parents wished to enter the workforce, and said this would be addressed by plans to extend the JobBridge programme to lone parents.
We’ll have the same again waiter:
Ireland’s TDs and Senators rack up a refreshment bill worth €73,000
So it turns out that being a TD or a Senator is very hard work. In fact so hard that the majority of them are so overworked with representing us in Government that they need refreshments. How about €73,000 worth of refreshments.
Reports that documents released by the Oireachtas show that the current outstanding amount owed to the restaurant at the Dáil is a massive €65,000. But that’s not all. There’s also a further €8,000 owed to the bar by TDs and Senators who have been whetting their whistle in between important Dáil business gatherings.
While the majority of the bills are short-term, at least €30,000 has been owed for four months or more. If we were that publican, we’d be getting seriously p***ed off about having to wait so long for our money.
Sources from the Oireachtas said yesterday that a new reminder system had prompted Senators and TDs to cough up the dough that they owed more quickly, however, the sources added that there were still a few members, or former members, of the Oireachtas who still had outstanding debts for the past year or so.
This information came to light after the Irish Times made a freedom of information request regarding the issue.
The information that the paper received included various amounts for individual TDs and Senators, but the Oireachtas refused to identify the people who still had outstanding bills.
Of the 170 people who have bills on tab in the Dáil restaurant, 12 owe €1,000 or more and one unlucky individual owes a massive €3,572. Seriously…what are these people eating/drinking?
Another member owes €938 to the Dáil bar and hasn’t paid up for the past four months or more.
Speaking last night, a spokesman for the Oireachtas said that a credit facility for the bar and restaurant was offered to TDs and Senators solely because of convenience. Former members of the Oireachtas can also avail of this offer.
The spokesman said that the Oireachtas wrote to members with outstanding bills on a monthly basis, with further letters sent to the individual if they still had not paid up.
“The majority of outstanding bills are settled in full at the end of each calendar month,” he said.
Even still though, a €73,000 tab on refreshments? Has no one told them we’re in the middle of an economic crisis?
Cregg House Sligo Nuns fear for the (Daughters of Wisdom) future and support services
‘While Fine Gael TD John Perry states it should be kept’ & MEP Marian Harkin called on the HSE to meet the service providers half way.
The future of more than 200 people with intellectual disabilities, who are cared for by nuns and live in accommodation provided by the Daughters of Wisdom in Sligo, was uncertain last night after the nuns said they could no longer stand over the service because of budget cuts.
The provincial, Sr Jean Quinn, has written to families warning that alternative trustee arrangements may now have to be made for the care and support of users of Wisdom Services, also known as Cregg House. The order opened Cregg House as a residential facility for people with intellectual disabilities in 1955.
Describing it as “the blackest day” in the order’s history in Ireland, the provincial said the sisters were pulling out because despite a series of meetings with the Health Service Executive (HSE), no agreement had been reached on funding, and a €900,000 cut in this year’s budget would have implications for the safety of both service users and staff.
“We could not stand over that,” she pointed out. The provincial insisted the threat to withdraw was “not brinkmanship”.
Management at Cregg House said the budget, which is understood to be €15.5 million, had been cut by €2.5 million over the past four years, while the number of whole-time equivalent staff had been cut by 40 to 296 since 2008.
The facilities include residential accommodation, including 21 houses in and around Sligo town, outreach services, day services, respite care and a special school.
The provincial said the withdrawal of the psychology service last year “beggared belief” as it left more than 200 people, many with serious challenges such as dementia and autism, with no psychologist.
Describing the cuts as “draconian”, Sr Quinn urged local people to lobby the Minister for Health, saying the cuts would have an impact on the most vulnerable people in society, many with severe intellectual disabilities who regarded Cregg House as home.
In the letter to families last Monday, the nuns promised to work with the HSE to ensure service users would continue to receive the care and support they require. The letter warned some of the residential accommodation at Cregg House was “not fit for purpose”.
Expressing frustration at the lack of progress after a series of meetings with the HSE, Sr Quinn added: “Look at how the banks could be bailed out. Here you have the most vulnerable people in society and we cannot provide €1 million.”
In a statement, the HSE said the budget reduction for 2012 was “consistent with other disability service providers in the region”.
Local Fine Gael TD and Minister of State John Perry said it was “critically important” the services remained.
MEP Marian Harkin called on the HSE to meet the service providers half way.
Online advertising is up 20.5% in 2011 – A new study shows
Online advertising grew by nearly 20.5% last year reaching an estimated spend of €132 million, according to a new study by IAB Ireland and PricewaterhouseCoopers.
The 2011 IAB PwC Online Adspend study says that the growth in this sector bucks the trend in the Irish media market as the amount spend on advertising in other media areas last year dropped by 4 per cent over the year to €897 million.
The study says that increased broadband provision and the increased average time spent online by people in Ireland each week are the main factors behind the online advertising growth. The average Irish internet user spends 10 hours online a week, according to ComReg.
Seven out of ten of the study’s participants anticipate further growth in the sector in the coming six months, while the study says that smartphone penetration is expected to increase to over half of internet users in Ireland this year (55 per cent).
Meanwhile, social media sites accounted for over one-third of the online display market in 2011.
Advertising on social media sites in Ireland reached an estimated €5.8 million last year, according to the study.
Commenting on the results of the study, chairman of IAB Ireland Eamonn Fallon described the “strong performance of online advertising” recorded as “good news for the Irish advertising industry”.
“IAB predicts that the growth of online adspend in 2012 is set to break the €150 million barrier and see online account for 20 per cent of total adspend,” he added.
PwC’s Bartley O’Connor said that the online advertising growth highlighting in the study “demonstrates the continued level of activity and vibrancy of the online industry in Ireland”.
“All businesses need to consider their digital strategy and how they will capture the opportunities associated with the migration to digital platforms.”
Advertising online ranks third after television and newspaper advertising, and ahead of radio, cinema and magazine advertising.
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